Held: Learning to Live in God’s Grip (a Bible Study for Special-Needs Parents)

byLee and Sandra Peoples

Can Be Purchased:

Summary:

On November 16, 2010, Lee and Sandra’s lives changed with just a short sentence from a child psychologist, “We believe your son has autism.” In that moment, so much changed … but what didn’t change was that God still held the Peoples family, they were never out of His grip.

In this Bible study written for special-needs parents by special-needs parents, you will learn you are not alone. Even when life feels out of control, it will help you remember He is in control. You will learn there is a future hope we all can cling to. You will learn there are others out there, just like you, who need to be shown they are also in the grip of God.

Held: Learning to Live in God’s Grip is designed to be done alone, as a couple, or with a group. There are questions throughout each chapter that will help you think about the material and apply what you learn.

Lee and Sandra Peoples are the parents of two boys. They live in Texas, where Lee is church planting Sandra works as a free-lance editor and writer. They both earned Master of Divinity degrees from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2007, and Lee received his Doctorate of Ministry in 2016. Lee and Sandra view the special-needs community as their mission field.

Endorsements:

With few Bible studies specially designed for parents raising children with special needs, Held is a much-welcomed resource for those who are struggling. Theologically sound and genuinely tender, Sandra and Lee Peoples effectively tie parents’ own challenges to those who encountered God during Bible times. Study participants are left with far more than temporal solutions to life’s daily challenges. They are encouraged to trust in God’s plan as they learn from heroes of the faith. Parents give themselves a lasting gift by embracing Held.

I wish that I could adequately express how excited I am for this new book! For any parent who has a child with special needs and feels as if life is out of control, this book is for you. More than advice, Held, will give you the power of God’s Word. This first of a kind bible-study for special needs parents is packed with Scripture-based references for the tough questions and more. More importantly, the study questions throughout this book will help you to take the truths of God’s Word and apply them to your special-needs journey.

Simply put, this is a book for every parent. Every parent whose heart has been fractured by special needs. Every parent who feels alone and who needs strength for the special needs journey. Every parent who needs to find their way back to hope.

Navigating this world of special-needs parenting is foggy at best. We spend our lives on bended knee and in waiting rooms, looking for wisdom from white collars and white coats. We long for community, friends to walk with, family to celebrate and carry us. Oh, but this journey is quiet and lengthy. It changes with the seasons and even hours. Our maps are out of date with every new study and milestone.

Held comes at a time in my life when I am more confident with speech flash cards than Scripture memory. It is a beautiful, honest walk through God’s Word with a keen focus on the extra-special lives we are cultivating at home. Sandra and Lee have given us the perspective of both a mom and a pastor. It is, finally, a legend to our map. A directional to the faith behind the life we lead and the long road ahead.

It is both a reference and guide written in our special-needs language, pointing to the cross. May it lead me … and you … ever closer.

Katie Mulder
Dayspring (in)courage community leader and special-needs mom
author of the Apple Pie, Anyone? journal at texasnorth.com
and believer in miracles

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With Held, Sandra and Lee have done an amazing job of ministering to families of children with special needs, a group that often feels unnoticed, lonely, and misunderstood. They shared of themselves—joys, triumphs, trials, and pain—to let us know they understand where we are, what our lives are like. And then they invite Jesus into the picture and remind us how He responded to fears, disappointments, and pain with His amazing love.

Lee and Sandra don’t offer clichés and pat answers. The issues faced by special needs families are too complex for that. What they do offer is hope, encouragement, and support for the journey. This is a Bible study I will turn to time and again and will definitely recommend to others!

Read your awesome book, Held. We are looking for a home church in the Eagan, MN area to help us through our journey with our precious son/grandson recently diagnosed with a rare genetic syndrome that will require God’s strength & compassionate support. Thank you for caring.
Blessings, Nancy